If you sell the same range in two countries, your two stores are probably competing with each other in search. This service sorts out which pages belong to which market, tells search engines how they relate, and works out where each market needs genuinely different content rather than a spelling change.
Two stores selling the same range in two countries are competing with each other until you tell search engines otherwise.
What international SEO means
International SEO is the work of making sure the right version of your site is shown to the right country, and that your own markets aren’t undermining each other. It covers three things: how the markets are structured, whether hreflang tags correctly describe the relationship between them, and whether each market’s content is different enough to deserve its own listing.
Most small business problems here are in the second and third, not the first.
Who it’s for
This suits businesses selling across borders with overlapping content:
- a UK store and a US store carrying largely the same products
- sites with English variants for several countries
- businesses expanding into a second market and deciding how to structure it
- anyone whose customers report seeing the wrong currency or spelling in search
The problems it usually solves
Two stores, one set of products, no hreflang. The classic case. Largely identical descriptions, different prices, different spellings. Without hreflang the two sets of pages compete, and search engines may show the wrong one to the wrong country.
Hreflang that’s being ignored entirely. This is more common than hreflang that’s subtly wrong. The tags have to be reciprocal: if page A lists page B as an alternate and B doesn’t list A, the set is incomplete and gets discarded. Missing self-references do the same thing.
The wrong codes. The language comes first and the region is a country, not a language. “en-uk” is wrong, because the country code for the United Kingdom is GB. Using a language code where a country code belongs is the most common error I come across.
A canonical fighting the hreflang. If a US page canonicalises to the UK version, the canonical wins and the hreflang set does nothing. The two get checked together for this reason.
Content that’s the same in both markets. Hreflang explains a relationship, it doesn’t create a reason for two pages to exist. Where the markets genuinely differ, on pricing, delivery, regulation, units or terminology, the content should say so.
What’s included
- A market structure review: subdirectories, subdomains or separate domains, and whether the current setup is worth changing
- A full hreflang audit, mapping every declared relationship and reporting where it breaks
- Corrected hreflang sets, including self-references and x-default
- Canonical reconciliation, so the two signals agree
- A content differentiation plan for each market
- Geotargeting and technical settings checked in Search Console
- Implementation or a developer-ready brief
What you get
- A map of your markets showing which pages are alternates of which
- A corrected, complete hreflang set ready to implement
- A clear recommendation on structure, with the reasoning
- A per-market content plan, so each store earns its own visibility
Sample output
SET: /products/threshold-seal/ (en-GB) and /products/threshold-seal/ (en-US) RETURN LINKS: Fail. The US page lists the UK page. The UK page lists no alternates. SELF-REFERENCE: Missing on both. X-DEFAULT: Not declared. EFFECT: The set is incomplete, so it’s likely being ignored entirely. ACTION: Add the full reciprocal set including self-references, and declare x-default on the UK page.
Limitations
Hreflang is a hint rather than an instruction. Search engines can still show a different version, particularly where a user’s location and language disagree.
It also doesn’t merge authority between markets. Each store still has to earn its own visibility, and a new market starts close to scratch regardless of how well the other one performs.
What this won’t solve
Hreflang doesn’t remove duplicate content between markets, it explains the relationship. Where two markets genuinely have nothing different to say, the honest question is whether both pages should exist. It also does little for Bing and other engines, which handle this differently.
Talk to the person doing the work
There is no account manager here and no team to be handed to. If you get in touch, it is me who reads it, me who looks at your site, and me who does the work if we go ahead.
Get in touch, or start with a free assessment.
Engagement and price
There are no list prices here, and that is deliberate. What a piece of work costs depends on the state of the site, how much of it there is and what you actually need, none of which I know before looking at it.
So it starts with a free analysis. I look at your site, your Search Console and who you are really competing with, then come back with what I would do first and what it would cost to do. No obligation attached, and if the honest answer is that you do not need me yet, I will say so.
How the work gets done
The audit runs through the hreflang toolkit, with crawl and canonical data from the technical SEO checks and market performance from the crawl and data integrations. This service sits under SEO. Multi-market build work is covered by web development, and the GaraDry case study covers a two-market setup.
FAQ
What does hreflang actually do?
It tells search engines which version of a page belongs to which language and country, so a UK visitor gets the UK page rather than the US one. It’s used wherever the same or similar content exists for more than one market.
Why is my hreflang being ignored?
Almost always because the set isn’t reciprocal. If page A lists page B but B doesn’t list A back, the set is incomplete and search engines discard it. Missing self-references, or alternates that redirect or return errors, cause exactly the same outcome.
Is “en-uk” correct?
No. The region part of the value is a country code, and the country code for the United Kingdom is GB, so it should be “en-gb”. Putting a language code where a country code belongs is the most common hreflang mistake on small business sites.
Do I need separate domains for each country?
Usually not. Subdirectories on one domain are simpler to run and keep everything under one site, which suits most small businesses. Separate domains make sense where the markets are genuinely separate businesses, and they mean building visibility for each one from scratch.
Sort out your markets
Get in touch, or start with a free assessment, which covers international setup where it applies.